Separated Siblings, Family Forever
by Quiltvent
Summary: Percy is the brother of Zoe. Separated for millennia; now Artemis is captured, and Zoe and the questers must find her mistress. Nico and Percy work together to shadow the group and protect their sisters from their prophesized deaths. Way down the line, Pertemis. Percy/Nico Bromance. 'M' Rating is for safety.
1. The Beginning

Rick Riordan owns characters.

Pertemis story. Percy and Zoe are brother and sister. Nico and Bianca are the same age.

The story starts right after Nico and Bianca are sent to camp after Annabeth is taken to Mount Othrys to hold the sky as bait for Artemis.

Nico sat down next to Grover after breakfast, watching the Satyrs chase the Nymphs, unsuccessfully. Nico told Grover of his gripes with the Hunters of Artemis, after his sister decided to join The Hunt, instead of stay at camp with him.

"Well, she shouldn't be in danger anytime soon," Grover said, trying to calm Nico down.

"Wait, why not?"

"I may have heard an argument between Zoe and Argus this morning. Something about needing to leave camp."

Nico's eyes narrowed, "How does that equate to them not leaving? If anything it sounds like they're leaving pretty soon."

"No. I guess Chiron heard their argument too, because he came out in pajamas and his horse tail in curlers and-"

"He wears curlers in his tail?"

"Yeah, but that's not the point, "Grover continued. "The point, is that Chiron told her that she's supposed to stay at camp until they received orders from Artemis."

Nico, still not getting the point, furrowed his eyebrows. "So what's the problem?"

Grover sighed, "The problem what she said after; she said 'How are we to get orders from Artemis if Artemis is lost?'"

"What do you mean lost? Like she needs Directions?"

"No. I think she meant gone. Taken. Kidnapped."

"Kidnapped?" Nico's brain went into overdrive. How would you even kidnap an immortal goddess? Is that even possible? And if she was kidnapped so easily, how safe would Bianca be with them? Nico's ADHD kicked in, "Hey Grover, how did you overhear this conversation?"

Grover blushed. "I was sort of camped outside the Artemis cabin."

Nico couldn't contain his laughter at that.

Later that night was capture the flag against the Hunters. Since it was winter break, most of the campers had gone home, so it was a small game. Only 13 Hunters, including Nico's sister, Bianca, and about the same number of campers.

The flag was set at the top of Zeus's Fist, though Nico argued it looked more like a Poop Pile than a Zeus's Fist, but Chiron stomped that idea quickly. On guard duty with Beckendorf and the Stoll brothers, was Nico. He was decked out in a blue-feathered bronze helmet that was falling into his eyes, and his breastplate was about six sizes too big.

Unsurprisingly the Hunters won, Bianca was on defense opposite her brother, while Zoe grabbed the flag. Thalia was still arguing that she could have grabbed the flag and won, had some Laurel girl not gotten in her way.

Grover walked over to Nico as he was taking his armor off. "Good game, Nico!"

"Grover, we lost, Zoe kicked our butts."

"Yah, but that was only your first game, you'll get 'em next time."

"I highly doubt that, but tha-" Nico stopped talking as he saw someone . . . something approaching. It was shrouded in a murky green mist, but as it got closer, the campers and Hunters gasped.

"This is impossible," Chiron said. He'd never sounded so nervous to Nico before. "It . . . she has never left the attic. Never."

And yet, the withered mummy that held the Oracle shuffled forward until she stood in the center of the group. Mist circled around their feet, turning the snow a sickly shade of green.

None dared move. Then her voice hissed inside their heads.

 _I am the spirit of Delphi_ , the voice said. _Speaker of the Prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python._

The Oracle regarded Nico with its cold, dead eyes. Then she turned unmistakably towards Zoe Nightshade. _Approach, Seeker, and ask._

Zoe swallowed. "What must I do to help my goddess?"

The Oracle's mouth opened, and green mist poured out.

Nico saw the vague image of a mountain, and a girl standing at the barren peak. It was Artemis, but she was wrapped in chains, fettered to the rocks. She was kneeling, her hands raised as if to fend off the attacker, and it looked like she was in pain. The Oracle spoke:

 _Five shall go west to the goddess in chains,_

 _One shall be lost in the land without rain,_

 _The bane of Olympus shows the trail,_

 _Campers and Hunters combined prevail,_

 _The Titan's curse must one withstand,_

 _And one shall perish by a parent's hand._

Zoe picked up a cheese ball from the Ping-Pong table, examining it as if were her prey. "I would prefer to take all the Hunters, we will need strength in numbers." She continued staring down the snack.

The room was filled with head counselors of each cabin, a few hunters, Chiron, and Dionysus. The Stoll brothers, Silena, Beckendorf, Thalia, Nico, Bianca, and Zoe to name a few.

"The prophecy calls for five, as well as being a combination of hunters and campers. Unless you wish to fail to save Lady Artemis, I think it best to follow the prophecy to the letter."

Obviously, Zoe was not very happy with that, but she followed the advice anyway. "I shall go, of course, and I will take Phoebe. She is our best tracker." Everyone nodded at that. "And I wish Bianca to go."

Bianca looked stunned. "Me? But . . . I'm so new. I wouldn't be any good."

Nico nodded in agreement. "Exactly, I should go instead, she's my sister and shouldn't be put in danger so soon."

Chiron raised an eyebrow. "We could say the same thing to you, my boy."

"It doesn't matter, Bianca will be fine," Zoe insisted. "There is no better way to prove thyself. And I will not be traveling with a boy."

"I'll go." Thalia stood and looked around, daring anyone to question her.

Zoe nodded. "And one more."

"Me!" Grover stood up so fast he bumped the Ping-Pong table. He brushed cracker crumbs and Ping-Pong ball scraps off his lab. "Anything to help Artemis!"

Zoe wrinkled her nose. "I think not satyr. As I stated before, I will not be traveling with a boy, and you are not even a half-blood."

"But he is a camper," Thalia said. "And he's got a satyr's senses and woodland magic. Can you play a tracker's song yet, Grover?"

"Absolutely!"

"So be it." Chiron said. "Thalia and Grover will accompany Zoe, Bianca, and Phoebe. You shall leave at first light. And may the gods" -he glanced at Dionysus-"present company included, we hope- be with you."

A boy was hunkered down behind a Greek column, like he was hiding from someone.

This boy was Nico, it wasn't even dawn yet. Nowhere near time for breakfast. It seemed as though he were taking a page out of Grover's book, and spying on the Hunters.

"I don't think I should leave Nico just yet. He only just got here, and we've been together for our whole lives"

Zoe nodded in understanding. "I get that, Bianca, I do, but we need you. We need five for the quest, and I chose you for this quest. Your brother will be here when come back to get the rest of the hunters."

Bianca stared at her wide-eyed. "But you don't get it! He's my brother, I should be here to protect him for the time being."

"Enough! You will be going on this quest. You can say goodbye to him before we leave. You are needed on this quest, I can feel it. Just trust me on this, Bianca. You will make it back, okay?"

Bianca looked unsure, but nodded anyway.

Nico just stared at the two of them. He didn't care whether they didn't want him going along, he was going to protect his sister no matter the consequences. They didn't survive against the Manticore to just die now. He made his decision, he would take Annabeth's invisible cap and shadow the group.


	2. Percy and Nico learn how to grow Zombies

**Rick owns all**

 **It was tough thinking of a way to get Percy into the story without having him chasing someone already, so bear with the forced reasoning of him being there. Thanks**

Perseus, Son of Atlas, the Titan of Endurance, should probably be siding with the Titan's, getting ready for the upcoming war, or training to defend himself. In reality, he's living a mortal life for now. Two years ago, in Percy's search for purpose, he met a couple that changed his life. This couple was Sally Jackson and Gabe Ugliano. Ugliano was the worst human being that Percy had met in millennia. Turns out the only reason that Sally was with Gabe was because she couldn't afford to live on her own in Manhattan, New York. It may seem like a crappy thing to do, but in comparison to the pig she was with, she was a saint.

To make a long story short, Percy saved Sally from that relationship, and got a job at the American National Museum of History, near Central Park, New York. Sally and Percy lived together- not in a romantic sense, but a mother-son relationship instead. This 'family' grew when Percy introduced Sally to an English teacher he met at the museum, named Paul. Two years later and Paul got a job offer to teach in D.C., and so all three packed up and moved to D.C. Percy made the switch to the Museum of Natural History, in D.C. Everything was going perfectly fine, millennia of peace: up in flames after his own father walked into the place.

 _ **Line Break**_

Nico's not a dumb kid, he thought he was aware of what he was getting himself into when he spotted the Manticore enter the Museum of Natural History. Now, what he was not expecting was to be on the second floor of a huge room, staring down at the strangest group of things attending a _PIRATE EVENT._ In the center of the room was a big circle of dirt, where a dinosaur looked like it had been; with wires hanging from the ceiling. There were at least a dozen guards, mortal by the look of them, stood on the balcony, two reptilian, snake ladies; the camp introduction video called them Scythian Dracaenae.

Between the two of them was a grey-haired man with a long scar running down over his eye. He looked terrible, skin paler than Nico's. The grey hair that Nico thought he saw was actually blonde, or was supposed to be blonde, he looked to Nico to be around thirty, which is young to already have a head of grey hair.

Opposite of him was Professor Thorn, who had blue and brown eyes and looked as French as ever. Thorn looked small in comparison to the man looking down on him. All Nico could see were his knuckles on the gilded arms of his chair, like a throne.

Nico had a good view from the second floor, out of the sight of the mortal guards with Annabeth's baseball cap on, making him invisible.

Nico was shaken out of his thoughts as a deep and strong voice filled the room.

"Well?"

"They are here General." Thorn squealed out, in his weird French accent.

"I know that, you fool," boomed the man. "But where?"

"In the rocket museum."

"The Air and Space Museum." The grey-haired guy corrected.

"How many?" the General demanded.

"Five, General," Thorn said. "The satyr, Grover Underwood. The girl with the spiky black hair, and horrible shield."

"Thalia." The grey-haired man corrected once again.

"And two other girls, the daughter of Hades-"

Nico was certain Thorn was speaking about Bianca when he said daughter of Hades, meaning that he was a son of Hades, himself. Nico wasn't sure if that scared him or made him happy. When he used to play Mythomagic, he knew Hades was powerful, one of the big three gods of Olympus.

Thorn continued "And your own daughter, Zo-"

"Do Not Speak Her Name!" The General commanded.

Nico was still watching the interaction when he heard a gasp. He jumped thinking he had been spotted, before realizing he still had the baseball cap on. He looked to his left, and almost out of vision even to Nico who could see well in the dark, was a man perched on the rafters, out of sight of the mortals. He had black hair, and tan skin. He was wearing a Museum t-shirt meaning he probably worked at the museum.

Nico turned back to the first floor where the action was happening. Luke had just spoken to Thorn, who retorted, though Nico only caught the end.

"- to risk. Let me finish them off."

"No." The General rose from his chair, and both Nico and the mystery boy got their first look at the man.

He was tall and muscular, tan, a light brown skin, and slicked black hair. He had on an expensive brown silk suit. He had a brutal face, huge shoulders, and hands that could snap a flagpole in half.

"You have already failed me, Thorn."

"But General-"

"No excuses! It was only thanks to Luke," He looked over at the grey-haired man. "That we were able to salvage our plan at all. You're lucky I don't throw you into the pits of Tartarus for your incompetence. Now get out of my sight, Thorn, until I find some other menial task for you."

Thorn was almost purple with rage, which didn't help his already horrifying looks. He looked to almost be foaming at the mouth. He turned, bowed awkwardly, and left the room.

"Now my boy," the General turned to Luke. "The first thing we must do is isolate the half-blood Thalia. The monster we seek will then come to her."

"And what of the Hunters, they will not be easy to deal with."

The General ignored Luke and turned, "Do you have the teeth?"

The man in front stumbled forward and held out a ceramic pot. "Yes, General!"

"Plant them," he said.

Nico watched breathlessly as the guard planted the seeds into the soil in the middle of the room. Shaken out of his thoughts, as he noticed a guard fall to the ground next to him. He looked around and noticed all the guards on the second floor, on his side of the room, were knocked out cold. Seemingly done by the black-haired museum employee.

Both boys looked over the side of the balcony again, as the guard smoothed the soil over, while the General smiled coldly.

The guard stepped back and wiped his hands. "Ready, General!"

"Excellent! Water them, and we will let them scent their prey."

The guard picked up a little tin watering can with daises painted on it and poured something that wasn't water. It was dark red liquid, and it really didn't seem like the time for Hawaiian Punch.

The soil began to bubble.

"Soon," the General said. "I will show you, Luke, soldiers that will make your army from that little boat look insignificant.

The soil erupted, Nico stepped back nervously, and bumped into the dark-haired boy, knocking his invisible cap off.

His eyes widened, "Shit!" Nico was turned around, ready to run, before two large hands were thrown around his mouth and the back of his shirt. Nico was turned around to the sight of two narrowed, black eyes.

The employee raised a finger to his mouth, in the universal 'shh' motion. Nico nodded and looked back down to the first floor to see a seething General and a few guards picking up a dozen orange cats.

The employee smiled while Nico just looked confused. The General stood and grabbed the correct teeth, dragon teeth, from a returning guard. The employee's smile faltered as the General planted and watered the teeth himself.

The dirt trembled once more. A single, skeletal hand shot out of the ground, grasping at the air.

The General, still staring at the skeleton asked, "Quickly, do you have the scent?"

"Yessss, lord," one of the dracaenae answered, she held out a silvery fabric, the same as the Hunters wore.

"Once my warriors catch the scent, they will pursue the owner relentlessly. Nothing can stop them, no weapons known to half-blood or Hunter. They will tear the Hunters and their allies to shreds. Toss it here!"

As he said that, all twelve skeletons emerged from the soil. They had dull pale skin, yellow eyes, and transparent skin, able to see the bones where their skin wasn't covered by army fatigues, they kind of reminded Nico of the man, Luke.

The employee swore and dragged Nico out the door.


	3. Bonding Time

**Rick is the owner of pretty much everything in the story.  
**

Nico stood at the corner of the street with the employee, pacing. He dusted off Annabeth's cap and put it in his back pocket.

The employee stopped and looked at Nico. "What were you doing in there?"

Nico looked at him oddly, "What did It look like I was doing? Look, the Manticore kidnapped this girl, Annabeth, and now she's either dead, or a prisoner somewhere. She was only there to save me and my sister. I saw him poking around the Museum of Natural History, so I followed him in there."

"And your sister, she's the daughter of Hades they spoke of?"

"I mean . . . I guess so, I didn't know we were children of Hades, but I guess _they_ did."

The employee stopped pacing and leaned against the building. "Look, my name's Percy. Those skeletons that we saw, those are called Spartus. As the General said, 'they can't be killed.' So, we just need to slow them down."

Nico told him his name and then led Percy towards the Air and Space Museum. "They're in there. How do we warn them about the Spartus without letting them know we're here?" Nico looked towards Percy to see him walking towards the far wall of the museum's entrance. Percy grabbed the handle on the fire alarm and pulled, releasing a high-pitched wail.

"That's how. Where's the quest going?" Percy asked.

Nico shook his head and shrugged. "I didn't get a location. The prophecy said that she would be West. Lady Artemis is supposedly captured and they're on their way to save her _and_ hopefully Annabeth."

Percy's eyes widened. "And how have you been following them?"

Nico turned towards the ground, looking sheepish. "I may have stolen a Pegasus from camp. . ."

"Alright, send it back to camp, you'll ride with me."

"Oka- wait, what?"

"I said you'll ride with me. You're not the only one with a sister on this quest."

 _ **LINE BREAK**_

The questers were fighting a losing battle against the Nemean Lion in the Air and Space Museum. It was hopping from exhibit to exhibit. It jumped from the wing of a plane onto another spacecraft, but its weight was too much. One of the cords snapped. As the display swung down like a pendulum, the lion leaped off onto the model earth's North Pole.

"It's skin is invulnerable, we can't kill it!" Phoebe shouted from above, still perched on the second floor firing down on the lion.

"Keep firing, we'll think of something!" Zoe shouted, scanning the beast, trying to remember if it had any weaknesses.

Thalia stabbed at the lion again, and it roared- inside its maw, a pink tongue and throat. Zoe smiled, "The mouth! Get it to open its mouth, Thalia."

The lion roared again and pressed Thalia. She jabbed at it again, but it swatted her away like a cat toy, sending her flying into the side of a Titan rocket. Her head hit the metal and she slid to the floor.

The lion advanced on her. "Thalia!" Grover shouted, but she was out cold. It was just ten feet away when the fire alarms blared, startling everyone including the lion. With its massive and sensitive ears, it roared in displeasure at the alarm. Zoe and Phoebe took the opportunity to fire into the mouth of the garbage truck, sized cat.

The lion reared, obviously in pain before it dropped onto its back. It took a minute, but the lion started to melt, the way dead monsters do sometimes, until there was nothing left but its glittering fur coat, and even that seemed to be shrinking to the size of a normal lion's pelt.

Grover walked up to it with a sad look in his eyes, before he walked back over to Thalia to check on her. The Huntresses gathered around the pelt, Zoe glaring at it with distaste.

"We should leave," she said. "Our lady needs us, and we've only wasted time here"

"I'm sorry. I-I was only following Artemis's trail," Grover said. "I was pretty sure it led here. Some powerful monster scent. . . she must have stopped here looking for the mystery monster. Which I guess we now know was the Nemean Lion"

Bianca raised an eyebrow and looked at Zoe, "Do we think this was the monster that she was hunting?"

Zoe shook her head, "No, this monster was not a big enough threat for her father to order her to hunt alone."

The questers felt uneasy about that. What monster was she hunting that's worse than the Nemean Lion?

 _ **LINE BREAK**_

Percy and Nico were walking back to Percy's car, Nico asking questions in rapid fire succession, with Percy able to avoid answering with expert tact.

They were a block away when they spotted the Camp's Strawberry van start to drive away. "Shit," Percy said. "C'mon my cars right there."

They got to the car just in time to see eight skeleton warriors racing out of the Air and Space Museum. Their lifeless yellow eyes locked on Percy's before they raced their way. Both Nico and Percy got into his Prius, as they tried to tail the van.

The skeletons could keep up with the cars easily in the city, considering how much traffic there was. They also sprinted extremely fast and didn't need to stop to catch their breath. Percy was so focused on not crashing his car, as well as staying away from the Spartus that he almost lost the van. The only way he kept track of it was that there was a helicopter chasing it, which was probably filled with mortals.

"How are we supposed to slow these things down?" Nico all but shouted

"We just have to make it to the highway. They can run fast, but they can't go fast enough to stay with us there. We just need a little bit of space."

It looked like Lady Tyche was with them that day. The helicopter started firing on the van, forcing it underground for the time being. Percy saw that, as well as the cars around them pulling over after gunshots were fired from above, and sped up. The Spartus followed them onto the highway, leading the undead warriors away from the questers for the time being.

 _ **LINE BREAK**_

"So you said your sister was on the quest, right?" Nico was in the passenger seat scanning over Percy. He got a better look now that they could relax a little bit. Percy had messy raven-black hair, brown eyes so dark they looked black, and he was quite a bit taller than Nico, Percy being 6'3" and Nico only being 5'9" he actually looked like a taller Nico.

"Yes. . ." Percy responded. Nico stared at him and was about to ask if that was all when Percy began to speak again. "It has been too long since I've seen her. We were separated as children, and I didn't get to see her or my other sisters for many years."

Nico nodded, "Wow. That's, that's heavy. Is that why you're coming with me? To protect your sister too?"

Percy just nodded. Nico fidgeted in his seat, prompting Percy to look over. "You have another question."

"Yeah, who's your sister?"

"I'm sure you can figure that out."

Nico thought about it: He and Phoebe didn't really look alike at all. Thalia had blue eyes whereas his were black. Bianca was his sister, so that just left Zoe. ". . . Zoe, she's your sister?"

Percy nodded once more. "How much do you know of our family?"

"Not much. . . She's not big on sharing information. Especially with males." Nico shivered, thinking back to how he asked her too many questions when they first met at Westover Hall. She threatened to castrate him if he didn't keep his distance.

Percy chuckled, "Yeah, that's putting it lightly. Before she joined the hunt, we were close. She was closer to me than any of my other sisters, that is. Have you ever heard of the apples of immortality?" At that Nico nodded. "Well they were the protectors of those apples. The five of them lived in the Garden of the Hesperides, warding off those who would come to steal a golden apple. They would wake Ladon if the person was idiotic enough to continue."

Percy stopped talking to take a breath, so Nico took his chance to ask his questions. "You said the five of _them_ , why didn't you live there too if you were their brother? And why isn't Zoe a Hesperide anymore?"

Percy swallowed and continued. "The Hesperides are only to be females, so instead of living with my father and sisters, I lived with my mother, Pleione. . . I think Zoe was too interested in the outside world. She wanted to leave. So when a hero came to her, promising that he would take her with him if she helped steal an apple, she readily believed him."

Percy pulled off the highway, and drove down a few miles, letting that information settle for the time being. "We'll continue tomorrow, we lost the van quite a while ago, but we can see my grandfather later about where exactly Artemis is being held."


End file.
